Arky 329 Midterm 2 review

Question 1

L’anse Aux Meadows

Answer 1

• located northernmost tip of island of Newfoundland
• only undisputed evidence of Norse presence in North America
• carbon dating and tree ring evidence provides short occupation for norse settlement between 990-1050 A.D. overlaying indigenous occupations dating back as far as 6000 years ago, norse occupied the settlement for around 20 years
• discovered by norweigian couple, anne stine ingstad and her husband in 1960 who were searching for the location of Vinland mentioned in the 13th century icelandic sagas

-settlment consisted of nine sod buildings, a large hall and a smelting hut, likely supported between 30-160 people

Question 2

evidence of L’anse aux meadows, how do we know it is a Norse site and seperate it from other claims of vikings in the Americas

Answer 2

1)Norse occupations are known from iceland and greenland, requiring both cold weather adaptions and advanced knowledge of north atlantic seafaring

2) written record always helps. Icelandic Sagas provided detailed information on voyages to vinland and other parts of the Maritimes

3) Sod dweling at L’anse aux meadows closely resembles those from other known archaeological sites in Greenland associated with the Norse

4) over 800 norse objects have been recovered from the site, including those made from smelted iron and bronze, unknown to indigenous populations of the americas

Question 3

kensington runestone

Answer 3

discovered in 1898 by swedish immigrant Olof Ohman, who unearthed the find in a field in central Minnesota

carved from greywacke, the stone supposedly records a tale of Scandinavian explorers in the area during the 14th century

Question 4

Mystery hill

Answer 4

the north Salem - New Hampshire, site consists of numerous stone structures and features, argued to have been built by ancient europenas- specifically Irish Culdee monks in tenth century A.D

owners of the site have little doubt concerning the function and purpose of one specific artifact at the site; they direct you to the slab of stone with a sign saying “to the sacrificial table”

Question 5

the sacrifical table; what is the basis for this assumption

Answer 5

the only evidence or proof presented in support of the hypothesis is that the artifact is a sacrificial table is that some people think it looks like what they expect a sacrifical table to look like

Question 6

Europeans in the new world before Columbus

Answer 6

a legend says an Irish priest St. Brendan was supposed to start a seven year trip westward into the atlantic ocean sometime in the late fifth and early sixth century

three centuries later, his adventures were rocorded in a work called Navigatio

only way to prove that Brendan made it was to find physical, archaeological evidence of a sixth century irish presence here, no such confirmation has ever been found so this story is a legend

Question 7

Barry Fell

Answer 7

Harvard marine biologist

provided ostensible evidence not just for discovery but also for the exploration and colonization of Americas by Iberians (spanish and portuguese) 3,000 years ago, Celts 2,800 years ago, Greeks 2,500 years ago, ancient Hebrews about 2,000 years ago and egyptians 1,500 years ago

Question 8

overview of mound builders

Answer 8

Mound Builder cultures : 3,500 B.C. to ca. 16th century A.D.

does not refer to a specific people or archaeological culture, but characteristic mound earthworks constructed by emerging complex societies and chiefdoms

these cultures covered a large area from the Great Lakes, through the Ohio River Valley and south to the Mississippi Valley and its tributaries

mound builders constructed thousands of earthworks throughout the eastern half of the united states, including the largest pre columbian construction in the Americas north of mesoamerica

Question 9

hopewell earthworks

Answer 9

consisted not only of conical burial mounds but also astronomically alligned geometric constructions and effigy mounds shaped in the form of various animals, birds, and serpents

astronomically aligned constructions include the Octagon earthwork, part of the Newark Earthworks in central Ohio. the octagon covers more than 60 hectares, some archaeological evidence indicates that the octagon was oriented to map and 18.6 year cycle of minimum and maximum lunar risings and settings on the local horizon

Question 10

Cahokia: Paramount center

Answer 10

occupied from ca.A.D. 1000-1350, Cahokia was the largest and best known of the mississippian centers

site is currently located in illinois while many of the large mounds remain, others have been destroyed by farming and urban development

illustrating four major phases of occupaiton, the site reached its peak between 1200-1300 AD before decline and abandonment around 1350

obtained and maintained power through control of outlying areas based on shared ideology and ritual practices

Question 11

Monks mound

Answer 11

largest architectural monument north of Mexico Built in several stages, larger footprint than the great pyramid of giza

Question 12

Cultural evolution in the 19th century

Answer 12

Lewis Henry Morgan: Ancient Society 1877, suggested that culture evolves in progressive and linear stages, with each stage corresponding to certain types of technology

Question 13

stages of lewis henry morgan’s idea

Answer 13

Savagery: fishing, bow and arrow (aboriginals)

barbarism: ceramics, domestication of plants and animals, metal working (native americans)

civilization: writing, phonetic alphabet, creation of laws (Greeks, Europeans)

Question 13

what was the assumption of lewis henry morgan’s idea of stages of human evolution

Answer 13

racialized worldview, certain races/ cultures will always be more “civilized” (superior) than others, used justification for European colonial rule

commonly assumed that the indians were simply incapable of producing splendid works of art and monumental construction projects, since people believed they were incapable of this, a myth evolved of an ancient, vanished american race

Question 14

the grave creek stone

Answer 14

discovered 1838 at grave creek mound, moundsville, west virginia during excavation by Jesse and Abelard tomlinson

small sandstone disc was inscribed with 25 alphabetical and pseudo-alphabetical characters on one side

Henry Row Schoolcraft was the first to examine the stone after its discovery. concluded the inscription contained mix of greek, etruscan, runic, gallic, old erse, phoenician, and celtiberic characters

Question 15

Who proved the grave creek stone to be a fraud

Answer 15

M.C. Reid 1870s, made an experiment where he asked people to create arbitrary chracters while avoiding any figures or alphabetical characters known to them, the symbols created were found to resemble those found in the Old world, this made him consider the artifact a fraud

David Oestreicher 2008, suggested that it was forged by James W. Clemens; a local physician who had funded the original excavations. source of inscription claims the unknown letters are found in the most ancients coins and monuments of spain

Question 16

Bat creek stone

Answer 16

discovered by John W. Emmert in 1889 during excavation of Tipton Mound 3, a hopewell complex located in eastern tennessee

slate tablet feautred at least eight distinct chracters and was found in association with nine burials and other grave goods such as copper bracelets

Cyrus Thomas, oversaw mound excavations, concluded that the inscription presented letters from the Cherokee alphabet, used this as evidence to conclude the Cherokee build many of the mounds in eastern U.S

Question 17

The bat creek stone deebunked

Answer 17

in 1970s Cyrus H. Gordon, scholar in ancient Near Eastern languages, determined that the inscription represented Paleo - Hebrew from the 1st or 2nd century A.D. Translated the inscription as “for the jews”

most archaeologists have concluded that the stone is not a genuine paleo hebrew artifact but a 19th century forgery

Robert Mainfort and Mary Kwas suggested the inscription was from a book, forgeror remains unknown